the myth the legend | christmas spices

The myth the legend - this is where to find fictious explanations of the most intriguing concepts. Today we’ll examin the weird concept of christmas spices.

What are they?

So here we have a problem right away. I have an idea about what these are from my Swedish heritage: ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. And then we have what is called kryddpeppar in Swedish. Apparently it is called allspice in English and is used in metaballs and lutefisk among other places. Allspice what is that for a name really? When you boil it down these spices are stuff that can make up a good curry in other cuisines. Anyway - back to the topic. Duckduckgoing christmas spices gives you quite a few opinions from the english speaking world. Huffington Post - an authority in these matter surely - lays down rosemary, ginger, cinnamon, peppermint and nutmeg. Sounds like a good list to me except for rosemary - that is a spice that goes well with lamb and thus is more likely to surface around easter. The lamb of God and all that…. The more exhaustive list at Home for the Harvest cites 14 spices overlapping perfectly with the huffing post. The nine added being parsley, sage, thyme, star anise, cloves, frankincense, myrrh, lavender and lady’s bedstraw. I don’t even know a couple of these and don’t really associate them with christmas except for myrrh being one of the things the wise men brought. Incense, gold and myrrh is what the swedish translation says. Maybe this frankincense also has a place then….

The myth the legend

So Mary has conceived the lamb of God in a stable outside of Betlehem. A couple of shepherds came around giving tribute and the wise men obviously. They are all hungry and it is the first christmas after all. Meatballs needs to be prepared for all these guests. Traditional recipes for meatballs seasons with pepper and salt but these being special times none can be found. Luckily the wise men from the eastern hemisphere brought spices. Coming from the court in Mesopotamia they are not known for their spicy food - luckily the bazaar next to the court also was frequently visited by salesmen from the sub continent where the mother and father of all spices live. These spices made it into the meatballs and christmas spices saw the light of the day just a few hours after Christ himself. An amazing story to say the least. Saint Joseph supporting his woman in all things (like being pregnant with some holy spirit) didn’t really like the taste but nonetheless exclaimed “these balls are delicious”.

Epilogue

Christmas cuisine may have some common traits but have a look at this list of local dishes connected with this holy season and your sense of dread watching the growing globalization may go away. Personally I think the food is the one upside of christmas and most of the rest is either superstitious nonsense or comercial endeavours. Merry christmas to y’all!

written by fredrik at 2021-12-24